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Thousands of students in Central Java drug addicts: BNN
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Busted: Uup (seated left), a drug convict serving time at Ambarawa Penitentiary, is presented at a press conference at the Central Java Narcotics Agency (BNNP) office in Semarang on Tuesday. He was has been charged with dealing drugs from his cell, allegedly involving Aan (seated second left), a former drug convict, as his courier. (JP/Suherdjoko)
T
housands of young people in Central Java have fallen prey to drugs, the Central Java Narcotics Agency (BNNP) claims to have found in a recent survey, indicating that out of more than 500,000 drug addicts in the province, 2 percent are students.
“They are in their productive age. Some of them are in junior and senior high school while others are university students. Drug abuse in Central Java has become alarming,” BNNP Central Java head Brig. Gen. Tri Agus Heru Prasetyo said on Thursday.
A survey jointly commissioned by the BNNP Central Java and the University of Indonesia’s Health Research Center shows that by 2015, the number of drug users in Central Java had reached 649,800, 1.9 percent of the province’s 34.2 million population.
Tri said among problems that had hampered his agency’s efforts to eliminate drug abuse was the many drug businesses run by kingpins from inside prison.
According to BNNP Central Java, 83 percent of all drugs distributed in the province were controlled by drug inmates. In the latest case, police arrested Aan, 39, a resident of Sidomukti village, Salatiga regency, Central Java, for possession of 105 grams of crystal methamphetamine.
“I was ordered by Uup, a drug convict who is serving time in Ambarawa Penitentiary. I brought the crystal meth from Semarang to Salatiga,” said Aan, a former drug convict. Uup and Aan have both served time in prison several times. (hol/ebf)
